Picking on Adkisson wrong move

There is a HUGE double standard at play at the Express-News. It chose to waste three pages of ink on a non-story about a citizen advocating on behalf of taxpayers with elected officials (which last I checked, that’s what citizens are duty-bound to do). The paper claims it wanted to know about Commissioner Tommy Adkisson’s “management style” of the local transportation planning board called the MPO by doing an Open records request into his emails with me.

The obvious question is why didn’t it explore emails of MPO chairs when Richard Perez, Sheila McNeil, or Lyle Larson chaired the MPO? Why no stories on their “management styles”? Why is it so interested in what I have to say to Commissioner Adkisson, but have no interest in what Richard Perez (Greater Chamber of Commerce, former MPO Chair), Carri Baker-Wells (Greater Chamber of Commerce), the Dawsons (owners of Pape Dawson Engineering, Sam Dawson is President of the Greater Chamber of Commerce), and SAMCO (lobbies for toll roads with taxpayer money along with dues from over 70 private highway construction, finance, and engineering firms, chaired by a tolling authority board member, Jim Reed, who has the power to vote to give contracts to firms in SAMCO) have to say to public officials? These people actually profit from the public trough by their actions, versus us taxpayers who foot the bill for their feeding frenzy!

And why aren’t Adkisson’s communications with other officials and staffers also relevant to how he manages the MPO? Why are only his communications with me relevant to informing them of his “management style”? Enter the Express-News’ vendetta against Adkisson and the grassroots.

In fact, there are some things in the emails the Express-News obtained that prove the toll plans for 281 violate the law. Yet there has not been ONE Express-News story informing the public of this monumental fact. Clearly, the Express-News isn’t interested in reporting such newsworthy information, just emails between a citizen taxpayer advocate and an MPO Chair who actually represents the PEOPLE impacted by the toll regime.

Adkisson has become the people’s HERO on transportation issues, and his rise to Chair is a breath of FRESH AIR after the shady and even illegal tactics practiced under Perez and McNeil. When thousands of San Antonians have turned out at public hearings for over 5 years to oppose toll roads, the Express-News’ attempt to disparage an elected official for representing the PEOPLE is not only reprehensible and a poor excuse for journalism, it’s likely to backfire.

So for fun, here’s some insight into who I work for…

Executive Madelyn Hall offering her input on her future.

I’m working to ensure their future isn’t riddled with public debt that bails out big government on the backs of the next generation.